Britons swelter through hottest September on record

This month is set to become the hottest September on record, the Met Office said today.

The average UK temperature for this September has been 15.4C, which applies to temperatures up to 9am today.

Continually warm temperatures mean that as the end of the month approaches, climate experts are confident that the previous September record of 14.7C, which was set in 1949, will be smashed.

A Met Office spokesman said the unseasonably high temperatures have been caused by warm winds coming up from the south west, as well as the after effects of two tropical storms.

He said: "We've been getting warmer weather due to weather systems coming from the south west, from the tropical Atlantic.

"This weather has been unusual in so much as we've had two ex-tropical storms, Gordon and Helene, that have contributed to bringing exceptionally mild weather to the UK from that region.

"By the time these storms have reached us they are no longer tropical, but they still have the warm air characteristics."

The spokesman added that cloudy weather, especially at night, had also contributed to the warm weather.

"Generally, it's also been quite cloudy, which helps to maintain the temperature. The cloud acts like a blanket, especially at night time", he said.

Night-time minimum temperatures so far this month have been particularly high, with a UK value of 11.5C - nearly 1C above the previous record of 10.6C, also set in 1949.

Jeremy Plester, of the PA WeatherCentre, added: "We have seen low pressure to the west of the UK feeding up a constant stream of warmer air, which has kept temperatures above what they should be.

"We have had some spectacular days . For example in Cornwall last Saturday it was a really gorgeous day. People were out in bikinis and swim shorts, which you wouldn't normally see at this time of the year. However, it has brought along some great deluges of rain."

Britain was hit by sizzling sunshine throughout much of the summer. July saw the highest all-time average temperature (19.7C) for a month in Central England.

It was also a record for the UK as a whole, with the average night and day temperature reaching 17.8C (64.04F), the highest since such information was compiled in 1914, the Met Office confirmed.